Chinese troops enter India once again, through Uttarakhand this time

China has done it once again. In yet another attempt to incite India and create restlessness, the Chinese Army has transgressed into the Indian borders into Uttarakhand, as per a report by NDTV.

Not once or twice, but the infiltration exercise has reportedly happened three times in the month of August this year. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China crossed the Line of Control (LAC) almost three and a half to four kilometers into the central sector of Barahoti, in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand.

Google Maps – Barahoti, Uttarakhand

While speaking on transgressions along the LAC by the PLA, Lt. Gen Ranbir Singh, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC) Northern Command, had commented earlier this year, that the infiltration took place in areas where India has a different perception of the Line of Actual Control. He had further added that India and China have well-established mechanisms, especially at the highest level, where special representatives from both the countries discuss issues related to the resolution of the boundary dispute.

This news comes after a report that a group of Chinese Army personnel had intruded into the Demchok area in eastern Ladakh last month. The Chinese troops had then too had transgressed around 300 metres into the Demchok area and pitched four tents.

Demchok, Ladakh, India

Similar incidents occurred in July last year too when Chinese troops ventured up to a kilometer into the Indian Territory in Barahoti, as per ANI. This area also witnessed aerial transgressions and infiltration by foot patrols in 2013 and 2014.

However, it is refuted that the transgressions in this area have happened for the first time. Though, it cannot be ignored that according to official figures, the number of transgressions by the Chinese Army into the Indian Territory has gone up to 426 in 2017 from the 273 in 2016.

Both countries, India and China are nuclear-armed and have one of the most powerful military forces in the world. However, the rivalvy came to a flashpoint last summer when Bhutan had noticed the Chinese trying to expand an unpaved road on the Doklam Plateau. China calls this as Donglang, a mountainous area at 14,000 feet.

Chinese troops

The recent transgression of Uttarakhand comes after the 73-day standoff at Doklam between Indian and Chinese troops last year.

The LAC is a 4,057-km porous border between India and China along three different regimes – Northern, Middle and Eastern sector, which expands from the state of Jammu and Kashmir in the west and Arunachal in the east. The border divide runs through various geographical landscapes such as glaciers, snow deserts, mountains and rivers.

It is imperative to note that India and China had even fought a war on the issue of the border dispute in 1962, however, the governments since then have been able to maintain peace across both sides until indications of infiltrations which began in 2016.

PM Modi also held an informal (no agenda) meeting with the Chinese President Xi in April 2018 which India had described as a “reset”- after tension between the neighbours flamed to its highest in decades over a military standoff at the border in Arunachal Pradesh. The meeting seems to have led to no positive impact in maintaining peace in the region.